“Arena,” featured in Issue 7 of the Australian journal Tincture this past September, has been re-posted in its entirety on the publisher’s blog . Composed as part of a fellowship with the I-Park Foundation, “Arena” documents the first moments of meeting between two men in jail.

But one day he didn’t feel like doing that anymore. What he wanted to do instead was drink brandy. It was a means to lie on a rock by the beach for days without feeling too guilty. He’d close his eyes with the bottle pressed to his lips and think “this is the life”. Then he’d fall asleep in the sun. Now and then, he wishes he could have made it last. But something must have happened because shortly after making the choice to drink instead of work, he found himself being led to a cell. He remembers: it felt right when they locked the door. He was grateful.

The issue of Tincture in which this story originally appeared can be purchased and downloaded directly from their online store,